Gilberts Grave fossils and fossil collecting

Gilbert's Grave is a small cutting in the Chedworth woods.
There are two small cuttings here. The first is near some Roman Villa remains. The roman remains are clearly signposted and can be seen on an 1:50,00 OS map.
Following the narrow road from Withington to Yanworth, this road follows the river Coln.
The road crosses the river, and from here follow signs to the Roman Villa. The cutting may be overgrown, so some work may be required in clearing the beds.

GRID REF: 51.82381°N, 1.92757°W

Echinoids, Brachiopods

A disused railway cutting, hidden away in a thick forest. This small cutting has good exposures of inferior Oolite. This location is well documented for its Clypeus sinuatus flat echinoid's, but many brachiopods and bivalves also found.

Fairly Good

This site is extremely rich in the Clypeus echinoids, although the exposures have become very overgrown. You may need to clear the faces to reveal the oolite beds.

Older Children

The walk maybe too much for most children, so this location is only suitable for oldeer childen. Take plenty of food and drink for the journey.

Moderate access

There are no toilets or other facilities here. It can be a long walk from the car park, along overgrown terrain.

Old railway cutting

Fossils are found in the banks of this disused railway cutting. The sides of the cutting are inferior oolite and particularly rich in echinoids.

SSSI
No Hammering Bedrock

Although there are no restrictions at this location, to preserve this site for future generations, hammering the bedrock is not permitted, you can hammer and collect from the loose rocks and scree.

Common sense when collecting at all locations should be taken. When climbing the cutting sides at Gilbert's Grave, extreme care must be taken, it can be easy to slip down and cause injury. Care must be taken of anyone who is searching the debris below and rocks from climbing the cutting sides and hammering can cause injury.

Last updated:
last visited:

Written by:

24/04/09
1993

Alister and Alison Cruickshanks

Other Locations similar to Gilberts Grave

There are many locations in the UK that have Oolite fossils. In Dorset, the most famous is Burton Bradstock and West Bay which is Inferior Oolite. Aso in Dorset is Horn Park Quarry, although this is now a highly restricted SSSI and also a business park.

Other locations such as Ketton Quarry in Lincolnshire, and Bearreraig Bay on the Isle of Skye, are also superb locations.

Nearby locations also of interest are the inferior oolite of Leckhampton Hill and the oolite of both Robinswood Hill.Hill, and Cleeve Common


This disused railway cutting has cut through the inferior oolite. Many of the exposures have become overgrown, so you may need to clear the face to get to the beds. The most productive beds are that from the upper cutting, where the oolite is much softer. Most of the echinoids will have the shells damaged, although the internal mould still shows great detail. Echinoids with their shells complete can be found, but are much less common. Brachiopods can also be found in the lower beds, and these are of superb condition. They can be easily found, and also be collected from the scree slopes.

Jurassic, 175mya

The Inferior Oolite at Gilberts Grave is found along the banks of the old disused railway line. It is just one bed, the Clypeus Grit bed, named as it is full of the Clypeus echinoids. This is part of the Salperton Limestone Formation

The Salperton Limestone Formation is a pale grey to brown rubbly, fine- to coarse-grained ooidal, peloidal and finely shell-detrital packstone to grainstone (Clypeus Grit Member), generally with very shelly and coarsely shell-detrital ooidal grainstone and packstone (Upper Trigonia Grit Member) at base. ...[more]


Clypeus sinuatus...[more]

A pick is handy to clear the cutting sides and a knife handy to remove debris around fossils. A hammer can also be taken to split any lumps of Oolite up into smaller fragments. CONTAINERS: Wrap fossils well and place into small bags or containers. The Echinoid Clypeus can be particularly fragile.

Stone Tumblers

Microscopes

Test Sieves for Microfossils

If you are interested in fossil collecting, then you may also be interested in a stone tumbler (Lapidary). You can polish stones and rocks from the beach which will look fantastic polished using a stone tumbler.

You can polish rough rock and beach glass whilst collecting fossils, on those days where you come back empty handed. These are all high quality machines to give a professional finish to your samples. They can even be used for amber and fossils.

At most locations, you can find microfossils. You only need a small sample of the sand. You then need to wash it in water and sieve using a test sieve. Once the sand is processed, you can then view the contents using a microscope.

We have a wide range of microscopes for sale, you will need a Stereomicroscope for viewing microfossils. The best one we sell is the IMXZ, but a basic microscope will be fine. Once you have found microfossils, you will need to store these microfossils.

Test Sieves are used when searching for microfossils. Microfossils can be found in many locations, and all you need is a small amount of sample such as clays, sands and shales, or if you have acid, limestone, oolite or chalk.

Our UKGE Store sells Endecotts Test Sieves, which are the highest in accuracy and extremely durable and long lasting. These Test Sieves are fantastic for microfossils. Endecotts Test Sieves come in a variety of sizes, frame material and types, they are certificated to EU Standards.

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